Tuesday, December 20, 2011

This afternoon, the House of Representatives decided not to vote on the Reid-McConnell Amendment to the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011 (HR 3630), which was passed by the Senate and provided a 2-month fix to the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) and the therapy cap exceptions process along with other Medicare provisions. Instead, the House voted to create a conference committee to negotiate the differences between the House and Senate passed bills.

If the House and Senate cannot come to an agreement on a package before December 31 the therapy cap will go into effect without an exceptions process on January 1, 2012. Furthermore, a scheduled 27.4% cut to provider payments under the Medicare physician fee schedule will be implemented.

It is critical that Congress address these devastating caps and cuts as soon as possible. APTA members are urged to contact their members of Congress to express their support for a package that contains a 2-year extension of the SGR fix and therapy cap exceptions process as outlined in the House bill.

If you're not currently part of APTA's Grassroots Network, PTeam, sign up today. PTeam will be the main source of information for legislative updates and breaking news on the effort to pass legislation to extend the therapy cap exceptions process and avoid the 27.4% cut.